Repair and life extension of roadways is a critical role of government and is one of the most significant costs to our nation. There is widespread concern that repairs of roadway infrastructure are underfunded. States would collectively need to spend $43 billion every year for 20 years to bring roads currently in poor condition up to good condition. Estimates classify more than 73,000 miles of road in “fair” or “poor” condition.
A substantial portion of the $43 billion spent yearly on roadway repair is for the labor component of crack repair and sealing. Substantial research is funded each year to maximize the productivity of crack sealing projects, including technological improvements to sealers and fillers. Additional research is directed toward decreasing exposure of highway workers to traffic, and to minimizing maintenance delays for the traveling public. With proper and timely application, crack sealing and filling can extend the life of roadways, and realize returns as high as $16.00 for every dollar spent.
To date, there have been few or no technological developments directed to increasing the productivity of labor expended on roadway projects.
Creak sealing is a process in which a worker plugs a crack with an elastic sealant material that protects against moisture infiltration, after routing the crack by walking backwards along the length of the crack and pulling routing tool. The worker-propelled router allows the worker to create a clean, dry, reservoir by cutting away portions of the roadway material surrounding the crack. This allows cracks to be evenly sealed with the elastic sealant material and prevents the sealant from becoming dislodged.
A typical worker can rout half a mile worth of cracks per day, at an average national wage of $14-25 an hour. Approximately 20-40% of the cost of a road crack-filling project is attributable to this labor. The cost per project mile of crack filling project is approximately $8,000 per mile, with about $1,600 to $3,200 of this cost being assigned to routing labor costs.
Crack routing can inflict additional damage on the pavement, if not done properly, and is often the slowest activity in sealing operations. Because the routing process uses impact of a rotating blade or bit to cut the cracks, routers must be carefully guided along the crack by a worker with sufficient physical strength to control the process. Because routers presently known in the art are physically pulled along a crack by a worker, the speed is limited by the worker's physical strength. As the worker tires, the process becomes increasingly slow and error prone.
Attempts have been made in the art to develop routers that are less error-prone, such as a routing machine with increased weight. Unfortunately, this makes the machine more difficult and tiring for an operator to pull, and therefore slower to move. Any benefit gained in precision is lost due to the slower production time.
There is an unmet need for a high-production routing device that can increase the amount of routing that can be accomplished per labor hour.
There is an unmet need for a high-production routing device that can be precisely and easily steered along a crack.